Circulating system for carpet dye becks



M y 1963 H. CLEMENT ETAL 3,091,109

CIRCULATING SYSTEM FOR CARPET DYE BECKS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 28, 1960 mvcuroas: HUBERT L. CLEMENT y 1963 H. CLEMENT ETAL 3,09

CIRCULATING SYSTEM FOR CARPET DYE BECKS Filed Sept. 28, 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG.4.

INVENTORS'.

HUBERT L. CLEMENT JOHN M NUTT /flM AT'TY.

M y 1963 H. CLEMENT ETAL 3,091,109

CIRCULATING SYSTEM FOR CARPET DYE BECKS Filed Sept. 28, 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIGE).

INVENTORSZ HUBERT L.CLEMENT JOHN M NUTT 7 716 azpflmg r $391,109 Ice Patented May 23, 1

3 091,109 CIRCULATING SYSTElVI FOR CARPET DYE BECKS Hubert L. Clement, Franklin, N.C., and John McNutt,

lue Bell, Pa., assignors to James Lees and Sons Compauy, Bridgeport, Pa, a corporation of Delaware Filed Sept. 28, 1560, Ser. No. 59,061 Claims. (Cl. 68-177) This invention relates to dyeing apparatus and more particularly to an improved dye kettle for piece dyeing of fabrics such as carpets and rugs.

Although many types and varieties of dye kettles for pile fabrics have been used and proposed in the past, none of these has been free from serious disadvantages. Some 'of the objections to past construction were the inability to achieve uniformity of dye concentration within all areas of the kettle and also to maintain such uniformity for extended periods of time or even for the time required to completely dye one piece of fabric. The control of heat and liquor concentration is extremely critical in the case of some dyes and dilution from the introduction of steam condensate proved to be a serious disadvantage. Efiorts to construct a completely satisfactory dye kettle have heretofore bafiled expert engineering talent, not only in the carpet industry, .but in the segment of industry which customarily builds and supplies equipment of this type. By way of example, it would ordinarily be supposed that both dye and acid uniformity could be maintained by means of mechanical agitators and/or impellers. When this was tried, however, it developed that the excessive agitation rendered the pile fabric unacceptable. Contact with the dye kettle components caused felting of the pile and consequent rejection. Other expedients which were tried with unsatisfactory results were increasing the dye cycle, but this introduced serious disadvantages due to dilution and inability of the chemical agents to maintain uniform properties during the lengthened dye cycle. It then became apparent that the shorter the dye cycle, the better would be the quality of the fabric, since the fabric would be subjected to a minimum of physical contact with the spreader, reel, and the interior surfaces of the kettle. It must be appreciated that the average loading of a carpet piece dye kettle comprises from 120-150 yards of carpet. The essence of the present invention is the result of much experimentation and trial and error in the design of these dye kettles and the results in some regards were unexpected since they were contrary to what was thought to be the best practice.

By providing high volume, reversible liquid flow, and by utilizing the shortest practical dye cycle, it was found that the fabric is subjected to one-fourth to one-sixth of the frictional contact with structural elements of the dye kettle. High uniformity and control of temperature, dye distribution, and acid distribution are also obtained. The particular manner in which the liquids are introduced into and discharged from the dye kettle is also important in providing uniform flow and dye concentration throughout the interior of the kettle without agitation of the fabric. Automatic and accurate devices provide excellent control of temperature and heat distribution, particularly in the shortened cycle. The volume of liquid circulated in the present invention is approximately 400% greater than in any known previous construction. All dilution of the liquor is eliminated thus maintaining uniform values throughout the cycle. Overhead intake and discharge lines in previous kettles were found unsatisfactory due to non-uniform distribution and excessive agitation which in some instances has caused the carpet to float on the liquor instead of to follow its proper overlapping path. The use of the terms liquor and dye liquor herein is intended to include all liquids introduced during the complete treatment of a piece of fabric. Included are the usual rinsing, scouring, and setting operations, all of which take place in the dye kettle.

In brief, the primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved dye kettle for piece dyeing lengths of pile fabric measuring to yards in length and 15 feet in width which does not injure the fabric and which provides controlled uniform dyeing.

A further object of the invention is to provide a dye kettle having a quick cycling reversible flow on the order of 15004800 gallons per minute together with means for reducing the mechanical agitation of the fabric caused by the high volume travel of the fluids through the kettle.

Further objects will be apparent from the specification and drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevation partly broken away showing a piece dye kettle constructed in accordance with the present invention,

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view as seen at 22 of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 3 is a detailed side view of the liquid handling mechanism as shown in FIGURES v1 and 2,

FIGURE 4 is a section as seen at 4-4 of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 5 is a section as seen at 5-5 of FIGURE 2,

FIGURE 6 is a schematic flow diagram, and

FIGURE 7 is a schematic detail of the reversing valve showing the position of the valve in a reversed portion of the cycle.

A dye kettle of the type to which the present invention is applied comprises a base 10, two vertical ends 11 and 12, a back 13, and a front 14. As is customary, a cover or lid 15 having a plurality of windows 16, 16 may be put in place during the operation of the mechanism. As seen in FIGURE 4, a length of fabric such as a piece of woven pile carpeting F is trained over a drum 17, mounted on and driven by a shaft 18, and a roller 19 which may be designed to maintain proper alignment of the fabric in the kettle. The fabric falls in folds 20 on the bottom of the kettle and is in turn picked up from the folds during the process of the dyeing or treating cycle. In general, the complete dye cycle includes the operations of scouring, rinsing, and dyeing. The first two operations require extremely .acourate and uniform control of the various ingredients in the particular baths.

The liquid baths including the dye liquor are introduced to the system through a conduit 25 controlled by a valve 26. These liquids are discharged into the suction or intake line 27 of a high volume centrifugal pump 28 driven by an electric motor 29 and equipped with a liquid cooled bearing 30. Pump 28 discharges into a heat exchanger 31 through conduit 32 and from thence to and through an automatically controlled four-way valve 33 which is reversed by means of suitable motor control mechanism 34 to connect the discharge conduit 32 successively to a manifold or header 35 for the first part of the cycle and then to a manifold or header 36 for the reverse portion of the cycle. This cycling operation is under control of an automatic timing device contained in the control box 37 and per se forming no part of the present invention. The time cycle is chosen for the particular amount and type of fabric being treated but is ordinarily on the order of several minutes.

Accurate temperature control is achieved by means of a steam inlet line 40 connected to the heat exchanger 31 and from which steam and/ or condensate is discharged through line 41. A temperature sensitive element 42 is positioned in discharge conduit 32 which in .turn controls steam valve 43 through a temperature responsive mechanism 44.

When valve 33 is positioned as shown in FIGURES 1 and 6, the liquid, whether it be a dye liquor or a scouring bath, flows through header 35 and into and through the side 11 of the dye kettle through ports 50 and 51. The header 35, however, is provided with an extension conduit 52 which terminates in a secondary header having in the present instance seven discharge ports 53, 53 which introduce liquid along the length of the back 13 of the dye kettle as shown in FIGURE 6.v It will be noted that the ports 53 as Well as all the other ports are positioned below the normal liquid level L in order to reduce to a minimum undesired agitation of the fabric folds 20.

Liquid from the dye kettle is supplied to the pump 28 and intake conduit 27 through a header 54 having ports 55, 56 on opposite end 12cf the kettle and which are not in alignment with ports 50 and 51. Liquid is also discharged from the kettle through a series of ports 57, 57 in the front 14 of the kettle which are connected to header 36 and thence to valve'33 by means of conduit 59. The lateral alignment of the ports 53 and 57 has been found to be less critical than is the case with ports 55, 56 and 50, 51 since liquid flowing, from end to end in the kettle travels transversely through the folds rather than longitudinally and thus the opposite location of the ports provides more even flow in this direction.

To further control and improve the lateral or end-toend distribution of the liquids, we provide perforated baffles 60 and 61 adjacent each end of the kettle spaced from, but parallel to the end walls 11 and 12. There will be a slight relative differential in the liquid level on the intake and discharge sides with respect to the liquid level L in the kettle. This difference is shown at 62 and 63 in FIGURE 1. During the various parts of the cycle, such scouring, dyeing, and rinsing, timing mechanism 37 energizes the control motor 34 to reverse valve 33 whereupon the liquid is supplied to conduit 59 and headers 36, 54. On this reverse cycle, liquid flows from the kettle through headers 52 and 35 and thence into intake line 27 through valve 33. This cycle is shown schematically in FIGURE 7 in which the intake conduit 27 is connected to conduit '64 and header 35 through a passage 65 in the valve barrel 66. Likewise conduit 32 is connected to conduit 59 through a passage 67 in the valve barrel. Rotation of the barrel 90 reverses the flow so that suction line 27 is connected to conduit 5-9 through passage 65 and discharge line 3-2 is connected to conduit 64 through passage 67. This latter position of the valve is shown in FIGURE 6.

It will be understood that we have therefore provided an improved circulation systemfor dye kettle liquids in which the cycle has been reduced to a minimum time, undesirable agitation and frictional contact of the fabric is reduced to a minimum, and uniformity of liquid ingredients both as to constituency and temperature is accurately maintained.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1.' A piece dye kettle for the liquid treatment of pile fabrics and the like which comprises a liquid reservoir having side walls and end walls, a series of ports positioned in said side walls and end Walls 'and'substantially below the normal liquid level in the kettle, a header connected to said ports, a first liquid conduit connecting all of the ports on one side and one end, a second liquid conduit connecting all of the ports on the'opposite end and opposite side, a high volume liquid pump, a rnotor for driving said pump, a third intakelliquid conduit connected to said pump, a dye liquor intakefconduitconnected to said third intake liquid conduit, afourth discharge liquid conduit connected'to said pump, aheat exchanger in said discharge liquid conduit, and a'fourQway valve connecting all four of said conduits.

2. Apparatus in accordance with claim'lhaving' automatic control means for reversing the conduitlcounections through said valve. f l

3. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 havingforated 'b-afile positioned in the kettle parallel to; each said end walls and spaced therefrom.

4. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which, ports in the ends are oifset with respect to each' other across the kettle. '9

5. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 including a steam line for introducing steam into the heat exchanger, a temperature sensitive element in the fourth discharge conduit from the pump, a valve in said steam line, and means responsive to said temperature sensitive element for operating said valve to control the temperaure in th fourth discharge conduit from the pump. v c

References Cited in the file of this patent V France May 6, 1957 

1. A PIECE DYE KETTLE FOR THE LIQUID TREATMENT OF PILE FABRICS AND THE LIKE WHICH COMPRISES A LIQUID RESERVOIR HAVING SIDE WALLS AND END WALLS, A SERIES OF PORTS POSITIONED IN SAID SIDE WALLS AND END WALLS AND SUBSTANTIALLY BELOW THE NORMAL LIQUID LEVEL IN THE KETTLE, A HEADER CONNECTED TO SAID PORTS, A FIRST LIQUID CONDUIT CONNECTING ALL OF THE PORTS ON ONE SIDE AND ONE END, A SECOND LIQUID CONDUIT CONNECTING ALL OF THE PORTS ON THE OPPOSITE END AND OPPOSITE SIDE, A HIGH VOLUME LIQUID PUMP, A MOTOR FOR DRIVING SAID PUMP, A THIRD INTAKE LIQUID CONDUIT CONNECTED TO SAID PUMP, A DYE LIQUOR INTAKE CONDUIT CONNECTED TO SAID THIRD INTAKE LIQUID CONDUIT, A FOURTH DISCHARGE LIQUID CONDUIT CONNECTED TO SAID PUMP, A HEAT EXCHANGER IN SAID DISCHARGE LIQUID CONDUIT, AND A FOUR-WAY VALVE CONNECTING ALL FOUR OF SAID CONDUITS. 